SFDOG News

A Warm Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who helped make the SFDOG Annual Holiday Meeting a huge success this past Sunday, December 16, 2007. We would like to fist thank SF/SPCA for the use of their room, and the terrific volunteers who helped before and during the event.

We would also like to thank the Silent auction donators:
1) Marines' Memorial Club and Hotel -- two-night accomodation, plus $50 dining certificate
2) Smiling Dog Films -- music video starring your dog
3) The Pooch Coach -- training/behavior session
4) Pet Food Express -- gift basket
5) Animal Company -- gift basket
6) Fog City Dogs -- three days of day care for one dog
7) Jeffrey's Natural Pet Food Company -- gift stocking
8) Rara Avis -- gift basket
9) Bernal Beast -- gift certificate

For the great Raffle Items
1) Happy Hounds Massage -- dog massage session
2) Pet Food Express -- gift basket
3) Jeffrey's Natural Pet Food Company -- gift basket
4) Noe Valley Pet Company -- gift certificate
5) Critter Fritters -- gift certificate
6) SFDOG -- kids' gift basket (do we thank ourselves??)

A special thank you to Pet Food Express and Jeffrey's who contributed both silent auction and raffle items.

At last but not least for the lovely Door Prizes from
1) Happy Pets
2) PRODOG (Professional Dog Walkers Association)

We also had a huge amount of donations brought by those who attended the party for pets of the homeless. A lot of leashes, collars, raingear, blankets, toys, treats. Someone brought a huge box of sweaters for all sizes of dogs. Citipets (on West Portal) and Pet Food Express contributed many boxes of dog food. Fog City Dogs contributed new dog toys. There were probably several thousand dollars worth of things given to VetSOS for the dogs of the homeless. Dog people are very generous.

Please visit MV Galleries :: SF DOG Holiday Meeting Pictures for pictures taken by Mark Rahmani.

SFDOG HOLIDAY MEETING

  Sunday, December 16, 2007
  1 pm to 4 pm
  SF/SPCA Multipurpose Room
  243 Alabama St, SF

  Celebrate the holidays at this fun-filled afternoon.

  Try your paw at agility -- jumps, tunnels, weave poles. Get a free photo of your dog in holiday attire. Silent auction and raffle items include a music video starring your dog from Smiling Dog Films (www.smilingdogfilms.com), a training and behavior session with the Pooch Coach (www.poochcoach.com), tickets to the Giants Dog Days game (for people and dogs), and many more. Games, good food and drink.

Bring a holiday present for needy dogs -- toy, rain gear, sweater, blanket, leash, collar, treats, muzzle, halter, food, metal or plastic food/water bowls (no glass, please) -- to be given to VetSOS for the pets of the homeless.

DOGS WELCOME!
SUGGESTED DONATION: $10
OPEN TO MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS ALIKE

RSVP for the holiday meeting to: info@sfdog.org or 415-339-7461

The entrance to the SF/SPCA Multipurpose Room (dog training room) is on Alabama St at 16th St. Street parking available. Or take the 22, 33, or 27 MUNI buses.

Hope to see you there!

SFDOG Holiday Party Dec. 10th 2-5PM

SFDOG Holiday Party

Sunday, December 10, 2006

2 pm to 5 pm

Perfect Paws

251 6th St (between Folsom and Howard)

Celebrate the holidays with your friends -- both furry and non -- in this fun-filled afternoon.

We'll have agility equipment set up for your and your dog to try your paws at jumps, tunnels, and weave poles. Even if you don't try it with your dog, it's a blast to watch others try to convince their pets to get all four paws off the ground and climb that darned A-frame.

Get a free photo taken of your dog. We'll provide holiday attire for the dogs.

Raffle includes a training class at Perfect Paws, free nights at the new Wag hotel for dogs, and gift baskets from San Francisco pet stores (contributions to SFDOG are tax deductible).

We'll have some games, good food and drinks.

Bring a holiday present for needy dogs (toys, winter rain gear, sweaters, blankets, collars, leashes, halters, treats, etc). We'll give everything collected to VetSOS, to be distributed to the pets of the homeless.

DOGS WELCOME!

Open to members and non-members alike. Bring a friend!

Suggested donation: $10

Please RSVP for the holiday party to: info@sfdog.org or 415-339-7461 (but not both) so we know how much food to buy.

Street parking should be plentiful (parking meters are free on Sundays) By MUNI: take the 12 inbound, get off at Folsom and 6th St

Hope to see you there!

ERROR ON EMAIL TO REGISTER FOR THE WAG NEWSLETTER

In the postcard sent to members this past weekend, SFDOG gave an email address to which members can send their email addresses to sign up for the e-newsletter "The Wag". We put: info@sfgov.org. The correct email address should be: info@sfdog.org.

You can also sign up for the e-newsletter on our website at: http://sfdog.org/thewag/ 

Note that SFDOG does not share contact information with commercial entities. We apologize for any inconvenience.

SFDOG General Meeting - Oct 18th 7-9pm

SFDOG General Membership Meetings
SFDOG has quarterly membership meetings open to all members and those interested in joining. Meetings feature guest speakers on topics of interest to dog owners/guardians.

SFDOG GENERAL MEETING

THEME: Haven for Homeless Critters in Kabul, Afghanistan with Pamela Constable
WHEN: Wed., Oct. 18th @ 7-9PM
WHERE: Trocadero in Stern Grove, 19th Avenue @ Sloat Blvd, San Francisco.
NOTE: Suggested donation: $10. Open to members and non-members alike. Bring a friend and introduce them to SFDOG. Service dogs only, please.

For the past two years, Pamela Constable, a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post in Afghanistan, has helped stray dogs and cats in Kabul find shelter, veterinary care and happy adoptive homes through a project she founded called Tigger House. She will discuss her work helping strays in a city and country torn by war, isolation, and cultural taboos about animals.

Ms. Constable was assigned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban in early 2002, when the city and the society were in ruins after years of civil war and isolation. The streets were full of strays, and she began sheltering them in her office, treating them for minor ailments and seeking more serious veterinary help from US military units. In 2004, she found an old house in the city and converted it into a small private shelter and clinic.

Tigger House now has an all-Afghan staff of seven, including a part-time vet, and facilities to shelter up to 15 dogs and 25 cats. It offers vaccines and vet care, at no charge in most cases, for any cat or dog. It arranges for neutering and spaying, and works to find loving homes for each animal. The project also works quietly to help foster a culture of animal care and compassion in a country where most people are too poor to have pets and many are raised to believe that all animals are unclean, especially dogs, and should not be kept in the home.

"Our philosophy is to help one animal at a time, and approach one person at a time, because otherwise we would become overwhelmed by the enormity of what we cannot do," said Ms. Constable.

Ms. Constable is also the founder and president of The Afghan Stray Animal League, a tax-exempt non-profit public charity which she operates out of her home in Virginia. The organization exists solely to support the Kabul project.

"Haven for Homeless Strays in Kabul" is open to members and non-members alike. Suggested donation $10.

Please leave your dogs at home for this lecture, to minimize potential disruptions of the talk.

To get to the Trocadero Clubhouse at Stern Grove:

Turn into the unmarked driveway into Stern Grove from Sloat Blvd immediately after crossing 19th Ave. This is the same entrance used for the summer music concerts (a banner for those concerts hung high above the unmarked driveway).

Follow the driveway down through the trees to the parking lot at the bottom.

The Trocadero Clubhouse is just uphill from the parking lot.

Stern Grove is reachable from the following MUNI routes:

28 (on 19th Ave) and 23 (on Sloat)
Walk down the unmarked driveway at the corner of 19th Ave and Sloat Blvd to the Trocadero Clubhouse.

SFDOG Seeks New Location For General Meetings

Hi all,

Over the last few years, SFDOG has held its membership meetings at Fort Mason. This summer, Fort Mason began to charge for parking, and so we are looking for another place to hold our membership meetings. The location should be able to hold at least 100 people. We don't always get that many, but we have had occasional speakers who generated a lot of interest.

Our speaker in October will be Pam Constable, the Bureau Chief for the Washington Post in Kabul, Afghanistan, who will talk about her work with an animal shelter in Kabul.

I'd like to be able to identify places to have this meeting (and others) sooner rather than later so I can get the info to her in plenty of time. So, does anyone have any recommendations for places to hold our membership meetings?

-- Sally Stephens